Native Plant Database

Aquilegia chrysantha var. hinckleyana

Ranunculaceae (Buttercup Family)

Marcus, Joseph A.

Hinckley columbine is currently considered a variety of Aquilegia chrysantha. Its diagnostic features are its petal blades, which are shorter but not narrower than in other varieties of its species at 2 cm long and 16 mm wide, and its tendency to have twice-divided leaves, fewer than the three divisions of other varieties of A. chrysantha. Its foliage is as fern-like and delicate as that of other columbines, and its canary yellow flowers are prominent and spurred. It grows to three and a half feet tall and is endemic to a single site: Capote Falls in the Sierra Vieja Mountains of Presidio County, Texas.

Aquilegia chrysantha var. hinckleyana is one of many yellow columbines popular in the nursery trade, but it is truly rare in the wild, native only to a single waterfall in far west Texas. Like other golden columbines, it is valued for its shade tolerance, attractive foliage, and clear yellow flowers. Columbines are short-lived perennials that reseed to replace mother plants where seed is allowed to mature and drop. They also hybridize freely between species and varieties, so plants sold as yellow columbine or golden columbine likely contain genetic material from varied sources.

The genus name Aquilegia comes from the Latin aquila which means eagle and refers to the spurred petals that many believe resemble an eagles talons.